The Little Nonya

I bought the DVD which shows the episodes from 1-12. The way Juxiang is, is the way I would like to be as a woman. She is gentle and cooks very well. She treats Ah Tao very well, unlike the other family members and conscientiously does the cooking, with patience, perseverance and humility. She is willing to learn how to cook from Chong Po, loves Tianlan a lot, and teaches Ah Tao how to cook Babi Pongteh and Fish Maw Soup. She expresses her feelings with her sweet smiles and facial expressions. Yes, my grandmother was a Peranakan and I can relate to Angela. Thus, Juxiang and Yueniang are my role models.

At the same time, she is feisty and makes choices to stand up for her rights, by running away from home to avoid marrying Charlie Zhang. Though she puts herself at a disadvantage by her handicap and is almost trafficked as a prostitute, she frees herself and others.

I like the sweet romance between Juxiang and Yosuke. It is a great pity that they died young. At the same time, it would have been good if Ah Tao and Tianlan had come to join her. Of course, this will make it a fairy-tale story. It will also make it a fairy tale if Xiujuan was matchmade with Jincheng, since they were already lovers, and if Chen Sheng liked Meiyu whom he was married to. Chen Sheng could then have lived with Meiyu till old age, if he had not been murdered.

I note that Angela has a photographer admirer in Jonathan too. She is in the same situation as her great-grandauntie, since Yosuke was a photographer who fell in love with the Baba culture too.

On a different note, I caught the finale of the whole serial and I am not too reactive over the separation of Yueniang and Chen Xi. I actually admire Yueniang's decision to leave Chen Xi though she clearly loved him too. It shows true love, self-sacrifice and strength of character. Instead, I wish that Yuzhu could have lived a good life. She was more of a victim than either Juxiang or Yueniang. To be raped and then prostituted by her own husband till she contracted venereal disease and went mad, is very very tragic. She was a well-educated, lovely and vivacious woman, before she went through all that. It would have been good too, if Yueniang could have died peacefully in her sleep, like Rose in Titanic: the movie did. Also, she could have lived to see Angela and Jonathan marry with kids. Oh well, this is just mere wishful thinking. :S

I must say that the actresses chosen to portray the characters in their different ages have similar looks, such that their aging process is realistic. :) Jeanette Aw and Xiang Yun both portray Yueniang, and Ng Hui and Zhu Xiufeng both portray Ah Tao. Funnily though, the other characters are portrayed by the same actor/actress with a change in makeup. Hmm.